


No Unwounded Soldiers

by zarabithia



Category: DCU - Comicsverse, Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: DC War Games, F/F, marvel civil war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-31
Updated: 2011-07-31
Packaged: 2017-10-26 19:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/286852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following Civil War, Kate takes a break to re-evaluate her place in the world now that her side has lost the war. During this time, she meets Stephanie Brown, who is still in hiding with Doc Leslie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Unwounded Soldiers

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the following quote: _In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky_

When Kate's mother was still alive, Kate came with her every year to this place. The earliest memory Kate has of the place is falling diaper first into a pile of angry ants, who had promptly bitten the toddler until she'd cried and ran to her mother's caring arms. The supplies Mrs. Bishop had helped deliver to the town's make-shift medical facilities had come in handy that day, to prevent an infection from taking root.

Kate remembered, as she stepped foot off the plane lugging her share of the medical supplies fifteen years later, telling the story to Cassie back home. She remembered the light brush of Cassie's hand against her thigh, and the softly murmured, " _They didn't leave any scars that didn't heal. They could have hurt you beyond recovery, yet they let you go. Must have been some pretty smart ants."  
_  
Kate also remembered the soft kisses and tangled blond hair that had accompanied that discussion, but she shifted the box of supplies to her other hand and tried really hard to blot that memory.

Cassie would always be her friend, but the Civil War between heroes back home had changed a lot of things, and Kate's relationship with Cassie was one of the casualties, albeit one of the less severe. It didn't stand up very well against the loss of Captain America, but each time Kate took time out to think about it, she had to concentrate very hard to remind herself just how little it did matter, in the bigger scheme of things.

Which, of course, was why Kate was here, in this dusty, abandoned part of the world, carrying on the legacy her dead mother had left behind: because working took away the need for thinking, and allowed Kate to focus on the issue at hand.

So when the first sight to greet her in the medical supply camp was a blond-haired teenage girl, Kate cursed her luck and couldn't help thinking about those damn ants, and the scars they supposedly didn't leave.

~~~

"Didn't expect to see anyone my age bringing in the supplies," Stephanie said as Kate placed the second of the boxes next to the tent.

The new girl was wearing an eggplant colored shirt, and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, with a rubber band that matched her shirt.

That damn color was going to haunt Stephanie for the rest of her life, she was pretty sure.

"Well, I'm not brining anything too important," Kate said, adjusting the rubber band in question. "And by not important, I mean nothing you need a medical degree to transport. If it's old people you want, wait til the next actual drugs shipment."

"Trust me, I get my fair share of old people around here," Stephanie answered, then winced. That had to sound incredibly ungrateful, considering the effort Doc Leslie put into saving her life. She didn't mean to sound that way...sometimes she just missed home. A lot.

Fortunately, Kate didn't know the majority of the story, so she just wiped away a stubborn strand of hair and nodded. "And sick people aren't known for their great conversational skills, right?"

"Not really," Stephanie agreed. "Besides, it's just really great to see someone from back home. The accent's not quite Gotham, but close?"

"New York," Kate corrected. "I'm not quite as big, bad, grim, and scary enough to lurk in the shadows of Gotham."

"Yeah," Stephanie said. "I wasn't either."

~~~

She was just supposed to deliver the supplies and go. Staying wasn't in the plans.

But a solitary emergency changed that. A triggered land mind resulted in a rush to the camp, and Kate ripped open a fresh pair of gloves and went to work patching any wounds she could.

She was aware of Doctor Thompkins watching her, making sure the spoiled rich girl knew what she was doing, and it occurred to Kate that there was absolutely no reason she _should_ know what she was doing when it came to bandaging wounds.

But the first lesson Captain America and Iron Man had taught them, back when the two Avengers had been on the same side, was proper bandaging techniques. It had been the second most boring lecture of the short training period the Young Avengers had enjoyed, second only to Cap's lecture on Superhero Ethics.

Unlike the lecture on ethics, however, the lecture on bandaging was one Kate got to practice nearly every day.

After the emergencies were over, Doctor Thompkins offered praise and told Kate that they could really use someone like her around the camp more often.

"I can stay for a while, if you'd like," Kate offered.

"You're more than welcome to, dear," Doctor Thompkins answered. "If you're sure that's what you want."

"This is the most useful I've felt all year," Kate said honestly.

~~~

Stephanie had to share her tent with Kate, and honestly, Stephanie didn't mind. Primarily, she didn't mind because Kate didn't seem to be annoyed by her chatter. Her chatter got on a lot of people's nerves, Stephanie had discovered. A lot of people back home, and a lot of people around here, who thought she was wasting time with her chatter.

At least, Kate didn't mind Stephanie's chatter until Stephanie said the one question that had been on her mind since Kate had taken charge hours before. "You're a hero, aren't you?"

"What? No!" But the denial was too slow, and Stephanie could feel the mood shift between them.

"You aren't a doctor. You aren't a nurse. The only other people I've seen with skills that advanced at bandaging each other up are heroes and villains. Since you're delivering supplies to our camp, I have to assume you aren't a villain..."

Kate stared out of the tent for a minute before answering, "I'm not really sure _what_ I am, Steph."

It sounded truthful enough that Stephanie let it drop.

~~~

For a long time after Stephanie's breathing steadied out to signal that Stephanie had fallen asleep, Kate laid there, listening to the sounds outside their tent. Insects, she'd been told, were a problem.

There were systems - paid for by Bishop money, no less - in place to zap the pests. It was a health concern, and Kate didn't see how there was any other way...

Somehow, she didn't think Cassie would have seen things the same way, a fact that was sadly beginning to describe the two of them with increasing frequency.

~~~

Their days were pretty busy, most of the time. Other days were achingly slow, something that normally drove Stephanie crazy. But Kate didn't seem to mind them too bad, choosing to use their down time to set up a target to use as practice that she didn't really need.

"An archer never goes anywhere wiihout her bow," Kate quipped, as she let the first of the arrows fly.

They took turns at alternately useful and mindless conversation as Kate got in her shots. Kate told Stephanie of the war that Stephanie was glad she'd missed, of the casualties that she was glad didn't reach Gotham, and of the team that she'd left behind.

Mentions of Tim slipped in, but for his sake, Stephanie renamed him "Marty." Kate smirked at her, understandably, and told Stephanie tales of a "Chrissy."

During those sessions, Kate offered her actual archery lessons, and Stephanie tried not to be resentful that a stranger was more willing to teach her how to fight than all of the heroes of Gotham combined had been.

~~~

It took Stephanie a month before she felt uncomfortable changing in front of Kate, and honestly, when she finally did, it was a matter of pure exhaustion, rather than a lack of inhibition.

Kate's eyes trace the scars and Stephanie quickly jerked the pajama top down to cover the bruises that hadn't quite healed from Black Mask's efforts.

"Someone hurt you," Kate observed, quietly.

"Gee, you think?" The question came out more angry than Kate had expected it to be.

"Been there, done that," Kate explained. "Got the lousy therapy bills as a souvenir."

"T-shirts are better, I hear."

"Yeah." Kate grinned. "They are."

It was another full week before Kate made any kind of move on her tent mate. Fortunately, the coolness of the desert night gave them plenty of excuses other than loneliness to cling to, as they sought out each other's company.

~~~

"A scar fetish," Stephanie claimed, as Kate's fingers danced across Stephanie's bare stomach, outlining places where cuts had been carved into Stephanie's skin by a villain she hadn't been strong enough to fight.

"Not a fetish," Kate claimed, laughing softly. "A fetish would be if I had an unhealthy attachment to your toes."

"Women with scar fetishes cannot throw stones about other people's foot fetishes," Stephanie retorted.

"It's a good thing I don't have a scar fetish, then!" Kate leaned her chin on her elbow and looked at Stephanie for a silent moment, before she asked, "The thing that caused the scars...it's why you're here, isn't it?"

"Yeah." There certainly wasn't any wiggle room to deny _that._ "Doc Leslie brought me here to recover... and away from Gotham."

Kate frowned and lightly ran her fingers over the scars as she talked. "She brought you here to keep you safe?"

Stephanie couldn't tell if Kate's tone was supposed to be one of understanding, or one of disbelief. She didn't see how it could be both, even though it sort of sounded like it.

"She's a doctor. Of course she wanted me to be safe."

"Steph...could step out of this tent and get eaten by a lion," Kate said, her voice another impossible mixture of sympathy and exasperation. "Or your hands could slip while you're bandaging up a patient, and it could cause you to become infected with HIV. Or any number of things could happen to prove that you aren't safe here."

"Gee, this is a reassuring conversation," Stephanie said, forcing her voice to have a mocking tone.

"My point is that you aren't safe here, and you aren't safe there," Kate answered. "The only difference is that back in Gotham you were expected to fight for survival. If someone attacks you here, what are you supposed to do, lay down and take it?"

"As you can probably tell, I didn't do so well at the fighting last time," Stephanie pointed out, looking down at the scars across her stomach.

"So you practice harder," Kate said with a shrug. "Because there's always next time, Steph. No matter how far away you run, there's always another battle waiting for you."

~~~

She gave pretty great advice, Kate liked to think, as she was packing up her stuff the next day. It was too bad it took traveling across an ocean to reach a realization that should have been as plain as the nose on her face, but eh, Kate was willing to accept that sometimes the obvious flew right past her nose on its way over her head.

She usually caught up to it, though, and last night had been one of those times that she and obvious had ran right smack into each other.

"I'll miss you," Stephanie told her as Kate packed.

"I'll miss you too. If you're ever in New York, you should look me up."

"I doubt that I will be. With the way everything is back home, I don't know why you're going back, much less why I would want to."

Kate closed her bag and looked at Stephanie. "Because, the last time I was hurt, like you were," she said softly, "They didn't leave any scars that didn't heal. They tried - and they probably thought that they hurt me _beyond all recovery_ , but they didn't. I didn't run away then, and last night I realized that this time, running away was exactly what I'd done."

Stephanie glanced down at her shoes, and Kate winced. Maybe she was sounding too harsh. Kate Bishop and tact met each other in passing far less than even she and obviousness did.

Reaching out, she gave Stephanie a hug goodbye. "I helped a lot of people here, and that made me remember exactly why I became a hero in the first place. I'm leaving because it's time I get back to that. But maybe...maybe it's not time for you, yet. And if so, that's okay. Because you can help people here, too."

She meant what she said, of course. But as Kate waved goodbye, one final time, she saw the difference in body language as Stephanie waved back to her, and she was pretty sure that Stephanie would be coming back home sooner, rather than later.

Knowing that she had played a role in that was a great feeling to carry back with her as Kate flew home, eager to greet whatever new battles awaited her.


End file.
